A new CCI
report presents never-before-published evidence that could lay the foundation
for new lawsuits against Big Oil and the plastics industry for the fraud of
plastic recycling.Many of the same fossil fuel companies that knew and lied
about how their oil and gas products cause climate change have also known and
lied for decades about how another one of their core products — plastics — will
never be recycled at scale. A new report from CCI — “The Fraud of Plastic
Recycling: How Big Oil and the plastics industry deceived the public for
decades and caused the plastic waste crisis” — lays out new evidence that could
provide the foundation for legal efforts to hold fossil fuel and other
petrochemical companies accountable for that deception and the significant
damage it has caused.
“Fossil
fuel and other petrochemical companies have used the false promise of plastic
recycling to exponentially increase virgin plastic production over the last six
decades,” the report explains, “creating and perpetuating the global plastic
waste crisis and imposing significant costs on communities that are left to pay
for the consequences.” The report shows how petrochemical companies, including
oil majors such as ExxonMobil, have long known that, as the founding director
of the Vinyl Institute, an industry trade group, explained to conference
attendees in 1989, “Recycling cannot go on indefinitely, and does not solve the
solid waste problem.”
Despite
this knowledge, fossil fuel and other petrochemical companies — as well as their
trade associations and front groups — have fraudulently marketed plastic
recycling as a solution for decades in order to escape regulation and protect
their profits. Their deception was summarized by an Exxon employee, who told
staffers at the American Plastics Council in 1994 that when it comes to plastic
recycling, “we are committed to the activities, but not committed to the
results.” California Attorney General
Rob Bonta is already publicly investigating the fossil fuel and petrochemical
industries “for their role in causing and exacerbating the global plastics
pollution crisis.” His office announced
that it subpoenaed oil giant ExxonMobil, the world’s top producer of single-use
plastic polymers, as part of that investigation. As states and communities
across the U.S. take Big Oil and other bad actors to court for climate
deception, it’s now time for officials to do the same to hold them accountable
for the fraud of plastic recycling. “Big Oil and the plastic industry’s
decades-long campaign to deceive the public about plastic recycling has likely
violated laws designed to protect consumers and the public from corporate
misconduct and pollution,” said Alyssa Johl, CCI’s vice president of legal and
general counsel. “Attorneys general and other officials should carefully
consider the evidence that these companies defrauded the public and take
appropriate action to hold them accountable.”